SIAS VISIT TO FRESHFIELD LANE BRICKWORKS, DANEHILL. 198 TQ385262 Wednesday, the first of June, saw us travelling to Freshfield Brickworks,
and as we approached via the Bluebell Line we were very relieved that we had not
come in the motor caravan. The van is 9 foot high - the bridge is marked 8 ft!
It was in June 197'9 that we last visited the brickworks with the Society and we
wondered what alterations had been made in those 15 years. On arrival we found
Freddie Sowrey who had organised the visit and about 40 other familiar faces who
had turned up on this magnificent sunny day. We were divided into two groups and
set off for the clay pit. This had been an estate brick works until 1899 and was
still making bricks by hand until 1928 when the first brick making machine was
installed. The works are owned by the Hardy family and produce between 14 and 15
million machine made and half a million special hand made bricks a year. All.
are clamp fired. In the pit the overburden of sand-rock is removed and the clay
transported by lorry to the weathering stockpile, where it is exposed to the
elements for up to twelve months and allowed to prove. For the technically
minded, the pit is sited on an exposure of the Tunbridge Wells Sand formation of
the Hastings beds and also uses the Grinstead clay which is a subordinate bed of
this foundation, whilst the blue Wadhurst intrudes into the strata from below.
This blue clay is dug for only about 6 weeks each year, providing the 10% which
is used in the brick clay mix.

A bulldozer is used to move the material from the stockpile to the charging
grid, and it is here that the various watered clays are mixed with about 8%
"Coalite" breeze. The latter is added to the clay to give a self
burning aggregate of about 10%. This mix travels on a conveyor belt up to an
edge runner grinding mill which has a grid base ensuring that any rock is
reduced to at least 3/8ths inch grading. More water is added at this point to
give a 25% water content to the brick clay mix. Conveyor belts then take the
material to one of the six brick making machines, where it falls into a bladed
pug mill which extrudes the plastic material into a three brick wooden mould
with metal frogs in the base, already automatically sanded by the machine. The
moulding sand prevents the clay sticking and gives an attractive finish to the
brick. Pressure is automatically applied to fill any corner voids and the mould
positioned for manual release of the green bricks onto a metal pallet by a
second operator who then transfers them to a drying oven trolley. The mould is
then re-sanded for recycling. Three times each day the wooden moulds are washed
under pressure to ensure removal of any adhering clay. When fired the bricks
shrink by about 10% so the moulds are larger than the finished product.

When we visited in 1979, there were only three brick making machines, but
this has been increased to six and in a couple of years time the number of
bricks being produced will double due to the installing of a new machine, made
in Holland, which will be entirely automatic and produce on one machine the same
number the present six produce. These six machines are "Perry's Patent
Brickmaking Machines" No.259656 made by Perry and Son of Westcliffe on Sea.

The drying oven trolleys, each containing 3% green bricks are wheeled into
the ovens. There they are air dried at 225 degrees for 31 days, the heat being
supplied by huge gas jets blown into the oven by electric fans. Over 43,000
bricks pass through the three drying ovens each day. During this time the
moisture content of the brick is reduced from 2090 to 2%. Fork lift trucks carry
the trolleys into one of the three roofed areas where the clamps are
constructed. These are hand built ('crowded') and when finished contain over a
million bricks each. To ensure stability the cross section is given a saucer
shape and the bricks slightly spaced, so that 10 occupy the space of 12. A grid
of already burnt bricks is laid to allow air to circulate and to provide and
foundation. Eight inches of coke breeze are laid on top, serving as a base for
the green bricks. 28 layers complete the height of the clamp and a double layer
of rejected burnt bricks is placed around the sides and on top, providing an
external cladding. An ignition oven is formed at one end and filled with 3 ft.
timber logs. As the wood is consumed so coke is rammed in until the clamp is
alight across its full width. The full operating temperature is between 950 and
1,000 degrees and this hot zone, once established, moves along the clamp slowly
but automatically. The burning is quite slow, taking about 10½ weeks to travel
from one end to the other. The bum is started when the clamp is about one third
completed and loading continues. The clamp is about 180 foot long, 50 foot wide
and 28 bricks high. It takes a total of twelve weeks, from the start of the
building of the clamp until the burnt bricks are completely unloaded.

We were taken to each of the areas during our visit and it was quite exciting
to walk over the burning clamp and see the pink hot bricks burning a few layers
below our feet. None of us stood still very long and we soon "hot footed
it" away from the burning areas.

Our thanks to the owners of the brickworks for allowing our visit, our two
informative guides and to Sir Freddie for arranging it and as an added bonus for
arranging such perfect weather. In writing this up I have cribbed much
information from the 1979 article originally written by Wilfred Beswick, and
this has made the task very much easier.
TONY YOWARD

CHELTENHAM PLACE MALTHOUSE - A POSTCRIPTPeter Holtham's article on the malthouse in the last Newsletter has a sad
postscript. This interesting industrial building is now demolished and another
piece of North Laine industrial heritage is just a pile of rubble. South of the
malthouse in the adjacent Marlborough Place could be seen a shabby garage
structure, lately occupied by a 'T' shirt company. On its corrugated iron roof
was painted "PETROL 1/2¾d". How sad that something so obviously
historic and charming could be swept away in a single blow from a demolition
team. Any chance that the roof was saved for Amberley?
GEOFFREY MEAD

TOWN TRAIL No.2 - EAST GRINSTEADThe East Grinstead Society has produced a complete re-working of an earlier
version of their Town Trail No.2. This includes an historical note and a short
description' of each place of interest together with a map of the area. This is
available from the East Grinstead public library, the Town Museum and local
bookshops at 50p per copy or by post from the East Grinstead Town Museum, East
Court, East Grinstead for 70p inclusive of post and packing.

CAVENDISH PLACE BOLLARDSAt the northern end of Cavendish Place, a seafront cul-de-sac near
Brighton's West Pier, are two square section bollards of curious design. Open
weave cast-iron painted a brilliant yellow and blue, they seem to be placed to
prevent carriage wheels and hubs damaging the Regency railings.. I have been
asked by a team working with Brighton Museum to supply any information on them.
I'm sure SIAS members can come up with enough information to satisfy the
researchers.
GEOFFREY MEAD

SUSSEX INDUSTRY- WHAT DIRECTION FOR THE FUTURE?Industry in Sussex has always been subject to change as methods, products,
process, market and raw materials rise and decline in importance, wealth and
availability. It is dynamic, responding to these challenging conditions in a
variety of ways, and the study of industry - our interest - changes similarly
reflecting members fields of research and the relevance of those subjects to
society outside (yes, there is life outside Industrial Archaeology!).

In Sussex we are fortunate indeed in having an industrial heritage that
predates most other parts of Britain with the multi-phase iron industry in its
long time span and industrial relevance. Glass, shipbuilding, charcoal, timber
were all early risers in our industrial history; yet it must not only be the
distant past we look to for our studies. If it were how could Ted Henbury look
at Crawley New town or Hugh Fermer analyse Hollingbury industrial estate,
Brighton? We have to bring the changing nature of industry through from iron and
glass, to arm and steel and onwards to plastics, power tools and microchips.

I have written in the past of the sectors of industry, primary - raw material
provision, secondary - manufacturing, tertiary - the service trades, but now a
new force rises on the horizon and one linked in a satisfying way to the
county's industrial past. Some researchers now identify a fourth or quaternary
sector that of information provision. Part of the Hi-Tech (sorry - that's how
they spell it today!) revolution is not based in Tokyo or Silicon Valley
California, or even on the M4 corridor. The Hi-Tech revolution in information
provision is known as Multi-Media and the U.K. centre is in - wait for it -
Brighton!

What is multi-media and what is this article on it doing in an industrial
archaeology newsletter? According to the industry's overall watchdog body the
Media Development Association (based in Brighton) multi-media came about thus:-"Through the application of digital technology which provides a kind
of universal language for all media work, different media disciplines are
converging. traditional demarcations are breaking down creating new
opportunities for collaboration and cross-fertilisation. New media hybrids are
developing. It is essential that Sussex retains it's pre-eminent position in
these new media if the industry is to fulfill its economic promise - what [the
participating companies] find in Sussex is an exceptionally strong skill base, a
sympathetic culture and an attractive natural environment"

These companies, TV, film, publishing, printing, audio, video,
telecommunications, converge ' in the digital technology of the computer disc
and Sussex is where they choose to operate. But what connection does this have
with IA.? The artistic-media folk do not base themselves in plastic boxes or
corrugated steel sheds on out of town estates - no, they choose disused
factories, warehouses and industrial buildings in the heart of the town.
Buildings we record, we campaign for, we save. the MDA itself operates from an
old furniture store in Jew St. Brighton. The site is in the heart of industrial
North Laine. - "plus ca change"?
GEOFFREY MEAD

BRIGHTON GAZETTE 28 April 1831The past volumes of the local press are always a source of industrial
information and an hour spent trawling the pages can come up with a rich catch.
Two pieces from one edition make up this article but members with time to browse
more thoroughly will find an abundance of IA. material in news copy,
advertisements, announcements, court hearings and market price lists let alone
more obvious pieces such as shipping - in - harbour lists, train or ferry
timetables and property sales. The latter was the context of the first piece -"A valuable copyhold estate situated on the north side of the
Bridge; Newhaven, comprising three well known and substantial warehouses with
floors which have been used for the past 50 year; for the housing of corn, dry
goods and merchanize [sic] of every description, together with the commodious
wharf with cranes etc affording every necessary convenience for an extensive
business. The above property belonged to the late Mr W. Brown, is holden under
the Manor of Meeching and is subject to stinted fines and heriots only"

Harbour facilities, shipping and wharfing (not to mention the illegal side of
this) are a venerable Sussex industry important in 1831, before, and in the
present, but the next extract is of a wholly novel and revolutionary item, one
that was to change indigenous Sussex industry beyond measure, destroying much of
the old, boosting others and creating new, fields of enterprise."Steam Carriage. Mr Laidlaw has the pleasure to announce to visitors
and inhabitants of brighton and its vicinity that he has at length procured at
great expanse and labour A STEAM CARRIAGE built upon the most improved
principle, conducting itself by its own power along a rail-way expressly made
for the purpose, at once shewing to the eye of the spectator the intricacy of
the machinery which from the manner it is constructed the most timid person can
inspect with perfect safety.
It will be exhibited every day until Tuesday next from 12 to 3 o'clock in the
large timber yard, top of Middle St, opposite the National School. Admission
each person 6d. Ladies and gentlemen wishing to let their children ride must pay
extra." (The shape of things to come!)GEOFFREY MEAD

SIAS ON THE AIRDuring the Brighton Festival this May I was contacted by Brighton and Hove
Radio to talk about the town and its work patterns. Members may know the
controversy there has been over the merger of Radios Sussex and Surrey with the
loss of local identity that entailed. Brighton and Hove Radio broadcast for the
time of the festival taking over from last year's Festival Radio ostensibly to
provide festival news. However as the team consisted of ex Radio Sussex, Radio
Brighton and University of Sussex staff it had a very professional upbeat local
programme.

John Henty (ex BBC Radio Brighton) hosted a midday peak-time programme which
featured Dr. Fred Gray, Director of CCE University of Sussex talking on leisure
and myself discussing work and industry. John Henty was keen to give our Society
its full title and not deal in initials! To his great credit he managed to fit
our mouthful title into the item several times.

Great play was made on the need to preserve old industrial buildings which if
not utilised for their original purpose will be needed for future nascent
industries (see Multi-media elsewhere in this edition). The- radio station
itself was broadcasting from a former
SEEBOARD building to add emphasis to the concept. _

It was very refreshing to meet a team of local people, well informed who_had
a real interest in their work, our subject and my home town! In contrast a
couple of days after I was approached by Radio Sussex & Surrey to talk on
railway architecture in a live programme from the Brighton station concourse. It
did not bode well when the presenter seated in front of the indicator board
pronounced Southwark (near Shoreham) as if it were Southwark (near London
Bridge)! He was aware that Brighton station had architectural merit but was
stressing the point that a modem railway system was better served with modern
buildings. To this I countered by comparing Hassocks station before
modernisation and its current bus shelters masquerading as railway buildings,
and also by setting the romantic association of the Brighton line and our
station as against the bland and featureless East Croydon. However, carping
aside, he also gave us our full title (plus the initials) and as they say
"there's no such things as bad publicity".
GEOFFREY MEAD

NEWS FROM AMBERLEY MUSEUMSpring has seen a large amount of activity on site at Amberley. The Museum's
Print Shop, a very popular exhibit, has been expanded and developed in the area
formally occupied by the Brewery and Laundry exhibits. In its additional space
the Print Shop is now able to show visitors much more clearly the printing
processes as well as putting more printing equipment on display. Of particular
interest is the Victorian Intaglio press which was used for high quality
printing from engraved copper plates. This was a process considered unequalled
in its dense, black colour and raised effect and was used for refined social
stationery and fine artwork. Copper plate engraving is slow and difficult and
the plates only last for a few hundred impressions. We are fortunate to have the
assistance of one of the few people in the county who undertakes copper plate
engraving, artist Audrey Stevens from Chichester. She now works at the Museum
from time to time engraving the plates and printing from them.
Adjacent to the Print Shop, a small drawing office has been added to the machine
shop exhibit. Small machine shops always had a drawing office attached where the
components for machining were drawn by the skilled craftsman. With the advent of
computer-aided -design and computer-controlled machines, there are very few of
these drawing offices left. The Museum's drawing office shows the traditional
drawing board with a range of drawing equipment and slide rules, many of which
have never been seen by our current school visitors.
One of our regular craftsmen, Broommaker Arthur Haffenden, has moved into a
re-constructed building in our Timberyard. For many years Arthur carried out his
popular craft in wind and rain only protected by a canvas awning. His new
"building" was dismantled and removed from the site of the new A23
diversion at Handcross and Arthur and many Museum volunteers re-erected it over
the winter period. Visitors can now go into the building to see Arthur at work
when the weather is less than clement!
This year we have been joined by a new craftsman, signwriter Terry Smith. Terry
is a signwriter specialising in traditional styles, materials and techniques.
Signwriting is a trade which has contracted considerably in recent years,
particularly since the growth of computer-generated vinyl signs of the 1980s.
Terry will be demonstrating his craft at Amberley and will provide an additional
attraction for our visitors. He is appropriately based in the Signwriting and
Paint Shop area of the Spooner and Gordon Wheelwright's Shop which was
re-erected at Amberley last year.

Finally 1994 sees the 90th anniversary of motor bus operation in Worthing and
the Museum is celebrating with a number of special activities. In particular the
recently restored Tilling Stevens petrol/electric double decker bus will be seen
out and about on the roads in Worthing and driving over some of its former
routes. The celebrations will culminate in a special bus rally at Amberley on
the 18th of September this year.
ROBERT TAYLOR

THE SOCIETY'S INSURANCERenewal of the Society's insurance has been arranged with different
undertakers this year, placed as previously through the Council for British
Archaeology. New terms have been imposed, in particular a requirement that the
insured will in future have to carry up to the first £850 of any loss of tools
or equipment or office contents.
Cover for these items therefore ceases to be a practicable proposition for the
Society and will not be included in future, resulting in a reduction in the
premium that we pay.
Our insurance will in future be limited to:-
(a) legal liability to our members and to the public up to £2,000,000 any one
accident, excluding the first £250 of liability for property damage.
(b) Personal Accident cover for members and volunteers at work for the Society,
comprising £5,000 for death, loss of one or more limbs, loss of sight in one or
both eyes, or permanent total disablement and £16 per week for temporary total
disablement for a maximum of 48 works excluding the first 4 weeks.
As in the past there is no cover for liability to employees. Such cover is a
statutory requirement where payment to volunteers or helpers is made.
"Payment" includes wages, salaries, subsistence allowances and any
other form of remuneration. Any mill owners or operators who make any such
payments should therefore ensure that they have cover in force on theIr own
account for their liability as an employer.
MICHAEL BEVAN

Readers familiar with issue No. 1 of November 1992 will note the fall in
price from £4.50 (inclusive of postage) to £1.50. This has been achieved
without loss of content but at some slight loss of quality in the printing of
the illustrations. This does not seriously detract and the excellent value
represented by the lower price will undoubtedly attract additional readers. As
would be expected the content is in the main concerned with Hampshire. Edwin
Course relates the history of the Twyford Pumping Station and the process by
which it was preserved. It is a story that he is well qualified to tell because
of his close connection with the establishment of the Trust that now controls
the site. The other three Hampshire articles are an account of detailed map
study and fieldwork which established the course of the Southampton and
Salisbury Canal through the parish of West Dean (by Jon Sims), an intriguing
glimpse into the way that Barnum & Bailey's Circus travelled by rail to
their venues using specially constructed railway stock, including visits to
Southampton and Portsmouth (by Bill White) and Michael Tighe's account of Gunner
& Co. of Bishops Waltham, the last provincial private bank which was
absorbed by Barclays in 1953. The remaining two articles do not relate to
Hampshire. Gerald Davies reviews the restoration work being undertaken on the
Forth & Clyde and the Edinburgh & Glasgow Union Canals while James
Paffet explains the methods of production and characteristics of cast iron,
wrought iron and the various types of steel. A value packed issue and easy on
the pocket.
BRIAN AUSTEN

Alan F. Hill, Sussex Savings Banks: an informal history (Lewes 1994)
pp 46 £4.75 including post & packing. Available from the author at 44
Houndean Rise, Lewes, East Sussex BN171EQ. By means of diligent research the
author has identified 14 Sussex Savings Banks founded between 1812 and 1845
aimed at promoting thrift amongst the small traders and labouring classes. The
great and good of the County were behind the schemes, anxious in a time of
distress, to divert attention from the attractions of radical politics and more
directly to keep down the poor rate. Such banks played an important role until
the arrival of the Post Office Savings Bank in 1862. The restricted and
sometimes inconvenient hours of opening of the Savings Banks made them less
attractive than the new competitor and progressively they were closed down. The
only one to survive later than the period of World War I was the Brighton
Savings Bank which from 1941 started to develop a branch network. It became the
South Eastern Trustee Savings Bank in 1948 and formed part of the privatised TSB
plc group in 1983.
This work contains a clear account of the establishment of the Sussex savings
banks and their subsequent development. The history of each of the institutions
is traced. Printed documents are reproduced in facsimile and attractive drawings
provided of the Arundel, Brighton and Lewes premises, all occupying dignified
purpose built mid-nineteenth century banking houses. The book is of A4 format
with a spiral binding. It forms a definitive account of an important element in
the banking sector in Sussex, is well produced and attractive and represents
excellent value.
BRIAN AUSTEN

Colin Brent's pedigree as a researcher, writer and town guide to his beloved
Lewes is known to many of us (never turn down a chance to be part of his Lewes
tours). This handsomely produced volume has all the panache of a Brent walk,
combined with his meticulous scouring of the archives and gives to the town a
gloriously rich window.

Two chapters stand out as interest in particular to SIRS members "The
Mart of Mid-Sussex: exchange of local produce" followed by "The mart
of Mid-Sussex: Out-County Commodities and Credit". Its industries ranged
from the heavy work of iron-founders and timber yards, through dryers of hops,
printers and breechesmakers to the intricate work of peruke-makers.

But it is invidious to pluck out of context
"industrial" subjects. The whole town is a rich complex of trade,
industry, commerce, but also of church life social affairs and the built
environment. Each strand leads to others and we can see the stages of growth and
decline, continuity and change that have shaped this very delightful community.
GEOFFREY MEAD

Lowfield Heath WindmillThe following details of the brakewheel and brake are reproduced from
Newsletter No. 9 of the Friends of Lowfield Heath Windmill:-
THE BRAKEWHEEL AND BRAKE DETAILS (by Peter James)
With reference to figure 1, a cast iron square is fixed onto the cast iron
windshaft, and the centre of the brakewheel is fitted onto a cast iron square
using wood wedges. The brakewheel has clasp arms made of oak, each of which
sandwich the elm cants, which in turn are plated each side with elm fellies.
Around the periphery are fitted 112 cogs.

Wrapped around the outside of the brakewheel at 'C' is the brake, this is made
in four sections of elm joined by wrought iron straps. One end of the brake is
secured to the side of the mill. The other end is attached to the end of the
brake lever at 'A'.

The brake lever is about 12 feet long and runs along the side of the mill.
The brake operates by a combination of weight applied to the lever and the
natural tightening of the brake due to the rotational direction of the flywheel.
The movement of the brake lever is shown at 'B'.

The wedge shaped cogs at 'D' a secured into the brakewheel tapered mortices.
Additionally the are pinned at the rear, see figure 2. These cogs in turn drive
the stone nut which turns the actual millstone.

Notice the head of the cog is offset, this is to allow for the final fitting
of the cogs into the brakewheel by planing one edge. The opposite shoulder of
the cog transmits the bending movement to the face of the brakewheel (due to the
force exerted by the meshing gear).

At present the tailwheel is secured by ropes to prevent the windshaft and the
sails rotating. Once installed the brake will allow us to control the sails.
Wind power with our new sail cloths will turn the sails for the first time for
about 115 years!

IFIELD WATERMILLThe winter period saw us constructing a new launder to replace the one
installed some 12 years. The new one was assembled within the mill from 1"
thick oak and is nearly 18 ft. long. This was broken down into four main
sections and rebuilt, in position over the wheel, in approximately 6 hours.

The re-cogging of the main spur wheel has continued, which will then enable
the proposed setting up of the stone nut and shaft.

The French Burr stone, rescued from the Hazelwick mill site about five years
ago, has now been successfully recast with plaster of paris and iron bands
fitted. This was achieved by laying the stone segments onto a 1" thick
blockboard base, covered with a plastic sheet, tightening the assembly with
webbing straps to hold a hardboard rim in place. The fine casting plaster was
then-poured and the whole left to harden before fitting the three iron bands.

National Mills open day was reasonably attended with just over 100 people
passing through, somewhat down on previous years. Work is now in hand on the
control mechanism within the water control box. We have much of the arms,
brakeband and pivot bearings remade or refurbished and hope to have this working
by the autumn. The next sage will be to extend the operating shaft to enable the
water flow to be controlled from within the mill, on the stone floor.
TED HENBERY

LOST MILLS OF SUSSEX 2. BOLNEY MILL
This is the next in my "Lost Windmills of Sussex" Series.
The first evidence of a windmill at Bolney comes from the parish register, which
records the burial on 2 December 1743 of John Davy, "killed accidentally by
the windmill". We cannot say whether the mill was one of those mentioned
below.

Later one is shown on Gream's map of 1795, about half a mile north of the
church, and another is said to have existed on the south side of the road
between the Fox and Hounds and a place called Long Wood, on land still known
well into the twentieth century as Millfields.

Of principal interest to us though will be the smock mill which stood to the
north-east of the church, opposite the Queen's Head public house. This is first
shown on Faden's map of 1795, although it is described in a sale notice four
years later as "newly built" (the claims made in these documents are
often exaggerated). It may have been the mill put up for sale in 1778 along with
a house and half an acre of ground, but so could Gream's. Certainly H.E.S.
Simmons could find no evidence of its existence before then. A timber inside the
mill on which was painted "T F 1828" probably came from elsewhere,
unless the date commemorates repair;.

The mill is next mentioned in the Defence Schedules of 1801. Schedule 1
records it as being capable of supplying 1 sack of flour every 24 hours, but in
Schedule 2 the amount has r risen to 20 sacks - surely an error as such a huge
increase in output does not seem likely! The miller at the time was John Barber,
who in 1813 disposed of it along with a newly erected watermill to William
Packham. Packham in turn sold it to John Bennett, in 1818. The following years
were bad times for millers, due to a slump in the rural economy, and by 1825
Bennett was bankrupt. The next two incumbents, Robert Brazier Rice and Thomas
Terry, were both short-lived, meeting the same fate. Then things seem to have
stabilised, with Henry Leppard at the mill from 1839 to 1859. Later millers were
H. Payne (1866), Thomas Ashby (1870, 1874), Messrs. Packham and Comber (1876,
1882), John Packham (1887), and finally a man named Pierce. The mill was
purchased c.1878-80 by a prominent local dignitary, Edward Huth JP of Wykehurst
Park. According to him it was by then out of use, but this of course conflicts
with the evidence of the directories, besides which remarks made by a local
inhabitant to Gurney Wilson imply that it stopped in 1891 or 2 when one of the
sweeps broke off.

Huth carved out no maintenance to the mill, as he preferred it in an ancient
and dilapidated state and thought restoration would spoil its romance! The
remaining sweeps were removed in 1905, and at the same time the millstones were
taken out and placed on either side of a new lych gate at the church. Latterly
the derelict mill saw service as a coal merchant's store and a chicken run. It
was finally demolished in 1916, having been condemned as unsafe.

Bolney mill was a small one, about 36 feet high, with two pairs of stones.
The cap roof was straight-pitched, with the boarding carried down vertically to
form a skirt around the top of the tower. 1 The mill was of particular interest
in that it seems to have been virtually untouched for the whole of its working
life. Few other Sussex tower or smock mills - if any - remained so primitive in
character until the end. It was one of the last in the county to be winded by
hand, the others being Hammond's Mill, Billingshurst and Black Mill, Bognor.2
The sweeps were commons, and most of the machinery was of wood apart from the
iron windshaft. Not only the machinery but the whole of the structure was
wooden; there was no brickwork in it apart from the foundations. 3 Only one
other Sussex smock mill, at Guestling, is known to have exhibited this feature.
4 It is not necessarily a sign of age, being found on mills dating from well
into the nineteenth century, but is comparatively rare and associated mainly
with eastern Kent.

It should be assumed, unless indicated otherwise, that all other information
is derived from the Simmons Collection. The same will apply to future articles
in this series.
GUY BLYTHMAN

DRAPER'S MILL, SILVERHILL ST. LEONARDS. (TQ 798106)With reference to Mr. G. Blythman's article on' Draper's NM Silverhill, St.
Leonards, I would. '` to make the following comments, corrections and
additions:-
(1) I assume that the article in the Hastings & St. Leonards News dated 24
Feb 1865 gives details of the fire which destroyed the earlier mill on the site.
This date is two years earlier than that given by G.M. Powell in Windmills in
Sussex, by Peter Hernming in Windmills in Sussex and by` M. Brunnarius in The
Windmills of Sussex, all admittedly without any source references. As all: these
authors give 1868 as the year in which the replacement mill was built, has Mr.
Blythman any reference that confirms his earlier date of 1866 for this?
(2) Mr. Blythman says "'Ibis large white smock stood on a two floor brick
base which, sometime after 1890, was enclosed within a square structure which
served as a stage"., Mr. R.G. Martin's drawing shows that neither the
statement nor the drawing accurately portray Draper's Mill. Examination of a
photograph from the August 1934 Sussex County Magazine and of a photograph sold
by the Hastings and St. Leonards Observer in about 1960 shows that the
"*square structure" was built in front of the brick mill base and
formed only part of the gallery, the rest being apparently a normal octagonal
brick base and gallery.
(3) Hemmings says that, in the 1930s, Draper's Mill had three pairs of Burr
stones and one pair of Peak stones in use. he also stated that it originally
drove five pairs but that a pair o€ Peaks
had been removed at some time. He notes that the sails were 28 ft. long ad had
32 shutters although the 1934 photograph in SCM apparently shows 10 bays with
three shutters per bay. This last comment suggests that care should be taken
when interpreting previously published information.
MICHAEL H. YATES

E&OE in transcription - please report
any apparent errors
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